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Hefe
a steamy cog_shit


Registered: 05/19/03
Posts: 1,305
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McUniversity!
#7736616 - 12/09/07 01:16 PM (16 years, 1 month ago) |
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I'm sure many of you are familiar with George Ritzer's theory of McDonaldization, based on Max Weber's theory of Rationalization. I just finished reading this book, for my own personal enjoyment, and I feel like colleges in this day and age are becoming more and more rationalized. More predictable, efficient, and calculable, as well as having more control over the students.
Discuss.
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SlashOZ
:D



Registered: 10/20/06
Posts: 3,557
Loc: Following the water cycle
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Re: McUniversity! [Re: Hefe]
#7736707 - 12/09/07 01:38 PM (16 years, 1 month ago) |
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disagree.
1. this rationalization is great for the sciences, mathematics, and business.
2. most institutions go down the path of rationalization.
3. what is the harm of rationalization.
4.rationalism is what got us away from thinking that god controlled the fates of all men and we need to obey the church's every word.
5. i don't know if you are in college but your teachers have pretty much no control over your life except in homework.
-------------------- "Life sucks but in this really beautiful way" - Axl Rose "Life's a bitch and then you die that's why we get high cuz you never know when you're gonna go." - NAS "When people don't know what you're about they put you down and shut you out" - Black Sabbath "An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind" - Gandhi "Look up at me I am God, look down on me and I am evil, look at me I am you." - Charles Manson. "Don't question my reality." - Me (as far as I know)
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RandalFlagg
Stranger

Registered: 06/15/02
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Re: McUniversity! [Re: Hefe]
#7736718 - 12/09/07 01:40 PM (16 years, 1 month ago) |
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Meh...if you don't like it then don't go.
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OneMoreRobot3021



Registered: 06/06/03
Posts: 61,024
Loc: the sky
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Re: McUniversity! [Re: Hefe]
#7736728 - 12/09/07 01:42 PM (16 years, 1 month ago) |
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http://www.nyu.edu/gallatin/
I see more programs like that one popping up all the time. Design-your-own-major type of thing in which you pull from multiple schools within a university. I have many friends who went through that particular program and it was awesome. There's good schooling out there to be had.
-------------------- Acid doesn't give you truths; it builds machines that push the envelope of perception. Whatever revelations came to me then have dissolved like skywriting. All I really know is that those few years saddled me with a faith in the redemptive potential of the imagination which, however flat, stale and unprofitable the world seems to me now, I cannot for the life of me shake. -Erik Davis
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Hyper_Panda_GO
Team Action!


Registered: 05/28/06
Posts: 9,720
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Re: McUniversity! [Re: Hefe]
#7736762 - 12/09/07 01:52 PM (16 years, 1 month ago) |
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Could you expand what you mean by efficient (shouldn't that be a good thing?), predictable, calculable, and having more control over the students?
-------------------- There is no valid reason you should be reading this
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akb112211
Stranger

Registered: 09/10/07
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Re: McUniversity! [Re: Hefe]
#7736770 - 12/09/07 01:54 PM (16 years, 1 month ago) |
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If you enjoyed the book so much and think it should be shared, you should mail it to someone from the shroomery...then they can pass on the favor to someone else once finished reading. The book sounds very interesting. I'd make a first request, but I'm in england for a while. This was just a spur of the moment idea by the way. So what about getting some sort of book exchange going?
Anyway, on topic...I imagine the book covers the idea that a bachelor's degree is pretty much worthless these days. Living in Cambridge, I am constantly in contact with career academics. I am finding that the American system stresses graduation with intent in beginning a career, and paying off debt. I think maybe one or two of my friends(that I am aware of) went on to pursue a higher degree. All of them went straight into the working world. In this town there is a strong desire to continue learning(mainly with the help of funding). Having said that, I can imagine Cambridge is an anomaly. I am constantly meeting new people whos' goal is the pursuit of knowledge. The average university graduate in this country is possibly very similar to those in the US. I can say one thing, most American universities are certainly a business and not much more. They are not the highly revered academic institutions that they once were.
-------------------- "There never was and never will be, Nor is there now, The wholly criticized Or the wholly approved"
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SlashOZ
:D



Registered: 10/20/06
Posts: 3,557
Loc: Following the water cycle
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Re: McUniversity! [Re: akb112211]
#7736865 - 12/09/07 02:17 PM (16 years, 1 month ago) |
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the goal of the university the united state is to increase social mobility.
certainly there are people who are career academics, more power to them but there is nothing wrong with the majority of people wanting a degree to get a good paying job so they can buy a house and raise a family.
-------------------- "Life sucks but in this really beautiful way" - Axl Rose "Life's a bitch and then you die that's why we get high cuz you never know when you're gonna go." - NAS "When people don't know what you're about they put you down and shut you out" - Black Sabbath "An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind" - Gandhi "Look up at me I am God, look down on me and I am evil, look at me I am you." - Charles Manson. "Don't question my reality." - Me (as far as I know)
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Hefe
a steamy cog_shit


Registered: 05/19/03
Posts: 1,305
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I'm talking about things such as in every University the student MUST take general education courses, or they cannot graduate. If I was pursuing a degree in Physics, and did not complete a fine arts course for general education, I would have to stay an extra semester to complete that fine arts class before I could graduate.
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Hefe
a steamy cog_shit


Registered: 05/19/03
Posts: 1,305
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Re: McUniversity! [Re: Hefe]
#7738262 - 12/09/07 08:51 PM (16 years, 1 month ago) |
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In other words, the irrationality of rationality.
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SlashOZ
:D



Registered: 10/20/06
Posts: 3,557
Loc: Following the water cycle
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Re: McUniversity! [Re: Hefe]
#7738397 - 12/09/07 09:23 PM (16 years, 1 month ago) |
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how is more education irrational?
-------------------- "Life sucks but in this really beautiful way" - Axl Rose "Life's a bitch and then you die that's why we get high cuz you never know when you're gonna go." - NAS "When people don't know what you're about they put you down and shut you out" - Black Sabbath "An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind" - Gandhi "Look up at me I am God, look down on me and I am evil, look at me I am you." - Charles Manson. "Don't question my reality." - Me (as far as I know)
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afoaf
CEO DBK?



Registered: 11/08/02
Posts: 32,665
Loc: Ripple's Heart
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Re: McUniversity! [Re: SlashOZ]
#7738449 - 12/09/07 09:36 PM (16 years, 1 month ago) |
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Quote:
SlashOZ said: 5. i don't know if you are in college but your teachers have pretty much no control over your life except in homework.
I think this is incorrect in some regards.
Educators, including college professors can control how you perceive things by way of the curriculum and the nature of the classroom dialog that goes on in a university.
I went to college in San Francisco and had wildly varying professors.
Fortunately, I had very even handed history and business professors and more liberal teachers in courses less subject to politicization.
a professor's world view greatly affects the perspective behind your education.
-------------------- All I know is The Growery is a place where losers who get banned here go.
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SlashOZ
:D



Registered: 10/20/06
Posts: 3,557
Loc: Following the water cycle
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Re: McUniversity! [Re: afoaf]
#7738513 - 12/09/07 09:54 PM (16 years, 1 month ago) |
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perhaps but i guess i'm just running on the assumption that people have critical thinking skills and can pick up on politicization within the classroom. not to mention i would hope that people follow the news and what is happening in their community. sure if your only exposure to learning is within the classroom and you are a complete tabula rosa person you could be swayed but maybe you are right and people aren't as smart as that.
-------------------- "Life sucks but in this really beautiful way" - Axl Rose "Life's a bitch and then you die that's why we get high cuz you never know when you're gonna go." - NAS "When people don't know what you're about they put you down and shut you out" - Black Sabbath "An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind" - Gandhi "Look up at me I am God, look down on me and I am evil, look at me I am you." - Charles Manson. "Don't question my reality." - Me (as far as I know)
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